SSID = WiFi Name

Dec 10 2013

SSID – service set identifier

Big mystery solved eh, eye roll.

It’s like, a snobby way of asking the WiFi network name… “oh Clarence, what’s your SSID dahling?” *tea cup pinky*

When securing your WiFi network use WPA2 (never WEP). Then hide the name, don’t broadcast it, “cloak your network”, practice security through obscurity.

How to do that, here: How to Change your Router Password

Be Cautious Using Hotel Lobby WiFi

Dec 9 2013

Wanting to make it easy for guests, a hotel lobby WiFi network is usually left open and unsecured, no password required.

Avoid submitting passwords and credit card numbers
while using this network.

A lobby is a target rich environment – the people using hotel WiFi are often booking travel plans, making reservations, using their credit card. Plus, it’s easy to blend into a lobby, and not look out of place sitting for a long time with a laptop.

Don’t Name your Phone your Name

Mar 14 2013

At the airport, scanning Bluetooth signals in a passenger waiting area.

The results:

Purple * – See the person’s name clearly displayed? The type of device/computer they’re using?
Green * -And that long number? That’s a MAC address

MAC address – a device’s unique number, a digital signature. Every device has one. Not related to Apple/Mac computers.

These people are unnecessarily broadcasting a lot of personal information.

If someone shouted, “Hi Rahul!”,

a gentleman within a 30-feet radius would react.

Someone with bad intentions could do a lot with that.

Practice ‘Security through Obscurity‘, and name your phone something boring.

The name of my phone is —

And always remember, one of the most dangerous places to go online is using airport WiFi.

Even the best guys in the world don’t.

SOLUTION – tether your laptop to your phone using a USB cable

How to Change Your Router Password

Oct 30 2012

It’s not that I don’t trust the guy setting it up, but, why rely on someone else for my own security?

Things you’ll need.

1 – access to your router
2 – a CAT 5 cable, connecting your router, into your computer
3 – a flashlight
4 – a pin to push the ‘reset’ button on the router
5 – a password manager

Okay here we go!

Reset your router. Push the tiny reset button on the back using your pin, hold for 30 seconds. I also unplug/plug it back in, for good measure. This will clear all your settings… your WiFi name and password, everything. It’s like we have a brand new router now.

Use your cable to connect computer to router. Plug into ‘Port 1’ on your router.

Open a new browser window, we’re going to log into your router. Use this chart for what IP address, to type into the address bar of your browser:

Don’t see yours above? Use this site to look it up.

Log into your router. Type the IP address into the address/URL bar of your browser, then log in using the username and password.

Here we are inside my router.

First change the name of your router, and the password.

Now we’re going to secure your WiFi. Find your ‘wireless security’ tab, look for the SSID.

SSID = name of your WiFi

1 – Name your WiFi network
2 – don’t click that, we’re going to keep your WiFi network hidden (security through obscurity)
3 – change the channel to anything other than the default. Your internet will be faster. I’ll explain why in video sometime, for now just do it.

For example, here’s my settings:

Router Name – $r}W68@2%J
Router Password – 8fXM(e;?sbU67R#Za$hk
WiFi Username – $8LP^y:6[e4r
WiFi Password – iq7B:f<o3e4xa[%GuP,g

Make sure your password includes numbers, letters and symbols, and is at least 15 characters long. 15 is the magic number, again I’ll explain why in video.

Copy the changes into your password manager. Save all your changes. Unhook the cables, you’re done, good work.